Northampton nursery owners set to retire after 15 years of being rated outstanding by Ofsted

A Northampton family-run nursery has been described as a “special place to be” by Ofsted inspectors, following its third ‘outstanding’ rating in a row.

Old Rectory Day Nursery, in Little Billing, opened in 1985 and is run by husband-and-wife team, David and Susan Hartley.

The nursery has been graded ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted for the last 15 years and it is about to celebrate 38 years of providing pre-school education and care for local children.

David told Chronicle & Echo he is “delighted and proud” of this achievement. He continued: “Over the past 38 years we have seen over 3000 children attend our setting and we now have many second-generation children who attend.

“The outstanding status is most timely as both Sue and myself will be retiring in the new year when we will both be 70 and this will now be our last inspection for the foreseeable future.”

The management of the nursery will be left in the trusted hands of David and Susan’s son, Ben Hartley and his wife Lyndsey.

This also comes as one of the nursery’s employees, Joan Brothers, is set to retire at the age of 79 after working for Old Rectory Day nursery since it was founded.

David added: “We will be leaving the day to day running of the nursery, which has been a way of life and not just a business for so many years, but we do so with extreme confidence the business will continue to thrive and will have a dedicated, enthusiastic and futuristic team of people to take it forward.”

The nursery’s latest Ofsted report describes how staff have very “strong” relationships with children and a “unique” settling-in process that helps children to feel safe and secure. For example, staff play traditional Chinese music and, if needed, parents are invited inside to help.

Inspector Emily Lofts said: “Old Rectory Day Nursery is a special place to be. Children's emotional well-being is at the heart of everything the setting does.

“When children start, staff find out all about their individual likes and dislikes from parents. They use this information to make the learning environment familiar to children.”

“Highly experienced and skilled” staff were commended for using every available opportunity to extend children’s learning, such as when they showed an interest in boats and staff responded by taking children to visit a staff member’s boat and teaching them about water safety.

Ofsted noted that staff consistently ask children thoughtful questions such as how the three little pigs might be feeling when the wolf blows their houses down. New words such as “frightened” and “brave” are introduced and children begin to use them as they retell the story to one another.

Inspectors found that children at this nursery, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), have made “exceptional progress” from their starting points.

Parents told the Ofsted inspector that Old Rectory Day Nursery goes “above and beyond” for them and their children and they would hesitate to recommend the setting to others.

Schools and nurseries rated ‘outstanding’ will be inspected by Ofsted at least once within a six-year window from their last report.

Read the full Ofsted report here.